Reality hits hard part #2 | You wont believe a BJJ black belt said this
Funny I was talking with a close friend who took the liberty of spell checking my recent blog post about the Mayweather vs Mcgregor super fight.
A long time friend he one of the very first people to highlight my general disregard for grammar and the basic conventions / rules of written english.. spell checking me since my very first Facebook days this time he noticed I made a mistake in that I said boxing isn’t MMA and Mayweather would clean the floor with him in the octagon..
This was obviously the opposite of what I meant in that Conor would walk right through Mayweather in a Mixed martial arts rule set.
Brase youself for this, but much to my surprise he disagreed with me on the grounds that
“Conor was not as deep double leg take-down guy and Mayweather would catch him on the way in.”
Remember those delusional people and their Elvis sightings?? Well ya this is a perfect example of that LOL
What makes this really bad
We all know those MMA fan boys, everyone’s got a friend or two watched a few episodes of Joe Rogan podcast and the latest series of UFC fights & all of a sudden they are an expert on all things fight related .
If it was one of those i’d just say OK, discount it as more babble from the general public that make up the masses in every sport, but not this guy. BJJ black belt, and one of the original MMA pioneers I know of in Canada.. were talking about fighting before its cool or financial incentive to be stepping the cage… so this is a real dude.
If he could be this deluded I had to stop and say to myself whats really going on here??
Dangerous Misconceptions about Grappling / BJJ & how a fight really goes down
People watch UFC’s and don’t see any Jiu-jitsu or watch a guy countering it and winning decisions via jab and jog and counter grappling tactics, to the untrained eye its easy to get why they now could assume BJJ is ineffective in a fight..
This could be no further from the truth..
Taking it past the sport of MMA where everyone knows the basics of a Jiu-Jitsu approach to ground fighting and also disregarding any of the pre-rehearsed concepts that often pass as self defense the real thing goes down a lot different than most people are training. Just follow the logic….
When you have a boxing match why are there are 3 men in the ring (2 fighters 1 ref) ? Simple if you didn’t it would be a non stop clinch fest. Two skilled strikers and I mean even remotely close in ability leads to both people working to find that opening often taking a step forward and ending up clinching.. “ if you are smart” .
The alternative as displayed in the recent Justin Gathjee vs Michale Johnson UFC barn-burner, This is a slug fest with no real winners as both guys took way too much damage in that macho brawl. Sure the crowd loved it and it earned them that 50k bonus money but high IQ fighters (Mayweather) don’t get it in like that. “Mayweather is actually a master clincher even in boxing..
Simple fix From the original BJJ perspective
Properly trained Jiu-Jitsu artist the answer is simple GRAB them in some form of a clinch and the Take-down is almost automatic.
As a matter of fact and this is going to be hard for many to believe but watch some old fights or street fights and you’ll see that when you body lock someone with any precision the odds are the non Grapplers reaction is to throw you backwards or headlock you on top of them in an attempt to roll you over.
Supporting evidence is good take a look ” imo there are no winners in these cell phone challenge matches but this is a good example of how powerful even a little BJJ is vs the untrained and pretty much exactly how Mayweather Mcgregor would go”
I know totally not what you want to do but that’s what te untrained reaction to close contact is. Takedowns are easy vs the non grappler and id bet anything thats what happens with Mayweather vs Conor if Mcgregor in any type of MMA setup.
The most overlooked part of Jiu-Jitsu
Clinch work is the root of fight based BJJ and heavily overlooked in preference of more sportive leg attacks and throws that are needed vs another educated grappler.
It starts with basic understanding of how to punch and kick offensive and defensively from there armed with just the basics you’ll find its pretty easy to close the distance vs another striker. The alternative is charging in like this poor fellow just praying he can get the fight to the ground. OUCH
Dont use MMA as your barometer of whats working in terms of real world fight skills ,everyone is the UFC is training some form of grappling now so what you see there doesn’t equate to a real style vs style match up or action vs the untrained individual.
p.s
My advice to Jiu-Jitsu practitioners is even if you don’t plan on fighting anyone in the parking lot on your way home after practice learn how to negotiate the distance on feet so you could position yourself in a fight dominantly if things ever go off track or you ever end up having to fight Mayweather in the octagon
Connors a bright guy smart enough to talk himself into this 100 million dollar fight and also smart enough to take the educated approach if they were ever to meet in the octagon
Never say never .. most of us never saw this boxing super fight coming up either lol
LOL!
Way to reframe and straw-man!
Connor is not a ‘shoot a double from the outside’ kind of grappler (if you can even consider him a grappler). He closes the distance standing, behind significant striking pressure.
Yes, on the clinch he can certainly bodylock takedown, or pressure against the fence (even though Conor hasn’t made his name on clinching). But therein lies the rub — getting to the clinch.
Know who was the sport’s most dominant bodylock takedown artist (in her division)? Ronda. Ronda, for all the recent ‘overrated’ hate, is objectively far better clincher than Conor. How did that work vs Holly? Vs Nunes?
It’s not that Floyd will ‘catch him on the way in” so much as it is Floyd would pick him apart on the outside and never let him close enough to lock up. Leaving Conor to either close the distance standing (rinse repeat), close the distance running (ole!) trade (and get boxed up), or shoot from the outside — something Conor has shown no great acumen for so far.
There are a great many wrestling based fighters who would humiliate Floyd a la Randy Couture v James Toney. But Conor’s style doesn’t make him one of them. Styles make fights.
And if you’re suddenly going to give Conor the Pokémon evolution that makes him skilled at shooting from the outside in time for the fight, I get to level up Floyd’s sprawl and brawl.
Floyd beats Conor in a ring and in an octagon. You want to make it a fair fight? Have them fight in an elevator.